Latest News

Recent News

Nikita Kucherov continued his scoring ways as he put home a game-tying goal just 90 seconds into the third period during Tuesday's 4-3 win over Florida.

It's as though Kucherov is evolving on a game-by-game basis. Kucherov also contributed three hits in just 15 minutes of work. He now has 27 goals and 59 points and hits through 74 games this season. Mar 25 - 3:18 AM

Nikita Kucherov got the only goal for the Lightning in their 2-1 loss to the Jets on Saturday night.

For two periods, the game was tied. Then Kucherov beat Ondrej Pavelec at 4:13 of the third period on the Lightning’s 14th shot of the game, via a wrist shot. He also received 15 penalty minutes because of a five-minute boarding call and a game misconduct. The 21-year-old has been fantastic this season, now with 26 goals and 57 points on the year, along with a plus-35 rating. Jonathan Drouin and Matt Carle picked up the assists. Mar 14 - 10:06 PM

Nikita Kucherov tallied his 24th goal of the year in a 4-2 win over Toronto.

He opened the scoring just 4:25 into the match when he was left alone and scored from the slot. The 21-year-old forward is having a tremendous sophomore season with 55 points in 66 games. Mar 6 - 10:15 AM

Nikita Kucherov posted a goal and an assist in Sunday's 5-4 loss to Colorado.

He has racked up six goals and 10 points in his past 10 contests after he went through a six-game scoreless drought. The sophomore winger has 23 goals and 53 points in 62 matches this season. Feb 23 - 10:05 AM

Player News

Nikita Kucherov got the only goal for the Lightning in their 2-1 loss to the Jets on Saturday night.

For two periods, the game was tied. Then Kucherov beat Ondrej Pavelec at 4:13 of the third period on the Lightning’s 14th shot of the game, via a wrist shot. He also received 15 penalty minutes because of a five-minute boarding call and a game misconduct. The 21-year-old has been fantastic this season, now with 26 goals and 57 points on the year, along with a plus-35 rating. Jonathan Drouin and Matt Carle picked up the assists.

Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov netted his 21st goal of the season in Tuesday's 3-2 overtime loss to Nashville.

Tampa Bay's "other line", made up of Kucherov, Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat has been a juggernaut over the past few months and Kucherov specifically has scored in four straight contests. With 21 goals on the year he has an outside shot at his first career 30-goal campaign. Brett Connolly also buried his 10th of the season in the loss.

Kucherov has now scored in back-to-back games after going 13 games without a goal. Even though his production has slowed down, he is still having a solid year offensively. Kucherov has 19 goals and 46 points in 54 games. He is on pace to surpass the 70-point mark for the first time in his career.

He snapped the slump when he scored into an empty net to give the Lightning a 5-3 lead over Dallas. Kucherov also added an assist in the contest to give him 45 points in 53 games. He had a six-game scoring skid heading into Thursday's match as well.

He has contributed just two assists in his last seven outings as well. Kucherov has made excellent progress in his sophomore season, but he was bound to slow down at some point. Still, he probably won't be stuck in this funk much longer.

Nikita Kucherov registered two assists and four shots in Tuesday's 4-2 victory against Montreal.

He picked up a helper on both of Tyler Johnson's power-play goals in the contest. Kucherov has four assists in his past two games to give him 41 points in 42 games. The 21-year-old forward is enjoying a remarkable sophomore season. He had 18 points in 52 games last year and now he has 17 goals after 42 appearances. Kucherov is also tied for first in the league with a plus-26 rating.

Nikita Kucherov had his second three-point game of December during Tampa's 5-1 win over Buffalo on Wednesday.

Kucherov put the game away in the third with two tap-in goals from the crease, raising his season total to 17. Just three behind Steven Stamkos. His 20 assist ranks second on the team, and his 37 points third. The 21 year old from Moscow, Russia appears to be the real deal.

Nikita Kucherov picked up a goal and two assists in Tampa Bay's 4-3 victory against Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

Tampa's second line was excellent on the night, with three goals coming from Tyler Johnson and three assists being posted by Ondrej Palat. "That line hasn't really been together for a couple of weeks now, but they are finally back healthy," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "They showed what they can do, and it was pretty impressive." He has amassed 33 points in 36 games this year

Nikita Kucherov's better understanding of the English language has contributed to his successful 2014-15 campaign.

"Now that Kucherov knows the language, he's completely different," coach Jon Cooper said. "He's effective on the ice, off the ice. He's a much more confident kid because he knows the language. It does have a big part of how the kids act." He's still relatively quiet, but he is communicating better with his coaches and teammates. Kucherov has been superb on a line with Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat this campaign. He has already surpassed his offensive totals from his rookie season by recording 12 goals and 29 points just 33 games into the 2014-15 campaign.

Nikita Kucherov sprung the Bolts past Carolina with two third period goals on Thursday night, including the game winner with just 31 seconds remaining.

Kucherov now has 11 goals and 25 points in 30 games this season. It adds to a remarkable start for the sophomore, who had just 18 points in 52 games last season. Justin Faulk scored for Carolina while Evgeni Nabokov made 29 saves on 30 shots in the 2-1 victory.

He has generated two goals and two assists during his current four-game point streak. Kucherov has already surpassed his point total from his rookie season. He has nine goals, 22 points and a plus-14 rating in 26 games.

Depth Charts

"We did not play well,’’ Stamkos said. "The compete level wasn’t there, we didn’t generate much so that’s a tough one. When you play like that you can’t expect to win, and we had some spurts but we didn’t really do too much today.’’

Tyler Johnson will be absent from the lineup on Monday due to an upper-body injury.

He has notched one goal and one assist in his past eight games, but it's been a spectacular season for the sophomore forward. He has 26 goals and 67 points in 74 matches. Consider him day-to-day for now.

Don't be surprised if you see 6'7" Brian Boyle on the ice in front of the opposition's net during the Lightning power play.

That's exactly where he practised Friday afternoon. In fact, Boyle was a regular participant on Tampa's first unit during Friday's scrimmages. Bolts' coach Jon Cooper wants more traffic in front of the opposition's net and what better way to accomplish that by putting the giant Boyle in the face of the other team's goalie. Boyle could get some deflection or rebound points in this position so consider picking him up if you need a short-term scoring boost.

Vladislav Namestnikov recorded three points in a game for the first time in his career during Monday's 5-3 win over Montreal.

Namestnikov had a great night. He won 64% of his draws, played 3:26 on the power play, and even laid out a hit. His two goals were pretty as he froze Carey Price both times with a deke before beating him short-side. The markers give him nine goals and 16 points through 38 games this season.

Ondrej Palat picked up two assists during Monday's 5-3 win over Montreal.

Palat now has five points over his last five games, with four assists during that time. On Monday, it was his second helper that wowed as he drew two Montreal defenders to him at the offensive blue line, took the hit and shoveled a perfect past to Vladislav Namestnikov for his second goal of the game. Palat now has 43 assists and 59 points over 70 games this season, tying last season's total over 81 games.

This is a huge win for the Lightning, who now have an eight point cushion over the Red Wings for second place in the Atlantic division. The teams were scoreless after the first period and tied at one after two but the Lightning got goals from Killorn and Steven Stamkos to pull away in the third. This was the first goal in five games for Killorn who now has 15 goals and 37 points on the season. The 25-year-old has already set a new career-high in points and he is now just three goals away from establishing a new career-best in that category as well. The Lightning trail the Montreal Canadiens by two points for the division lead.

Cedric Paquette (leg) will be in the Lightning lineup Monday night to take on the Canadiens.

Paquette avoided a major injury and will not miss any time due to the leg injury. He has been a useful real-life player for Tampa Bay this year but doesn’t carry any fantasy value. The 21-year-old has 12 goals and 19 points in 58 games this season. Jonathan Marchessault will be a healthy scratch.

Morrow played 9:12, the least of any Tampa Bay forward. He has certainly fallen from his status six years ago when he was the best power forward in the NHL as he has only three goals and eight points in 64 games this season.

Jonathan Marchessault has been recalled by Tampa Bay on an emergency basis.

He has played one game with the Lightning this season and it came back on Oct. 25. Marchessault has 21 goals and 57 points in 60 games with AHL Syracuse this season. Tampa Bay lost Cedric Paquette to a suspected leg injury on Saturday, which prompted the call up.

Ryan Callahan recorded a goal and an assist in Tuesday's 4-3 win over the Panthers.

Callahan excellent season continues, as he nears his career high of 54 points in a single season. Callahan also contributed five hits in the win. He now has 22 goals and 51 points with 166 hits through 69 games this season.

J.T. Brown will be inserted into the Lightning’s lineup Monday night versus the Canadiens.

Brown will dress Monday night as Tyler Johnson is unable to suit up after being sustaining an upper body injury. Brown has been a productive fourth liner for the Bolts this season, picking up three goals and nine points in 46 games played. He will most likely play the wing alongside Brandon Morrow and Brian Boyle.

Victor Hedman is being listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury and he's questionable for Tuesday night.

He sustained the ailment in Monday's win over Montreal. Hedman will probably sit out Tuesday's game versus Toronto and then the Lightning will see where he's at with his recovery. Tampa Bay called up Slater Koekkoek as a possible replacement.

Anton Stralman collected an empty net goal along with a power play assist during Monday's 5-3 win over Montreal.

Stralman had a great game. He posted six shots, the second most among all skaters, while skating over 21 minutes including nearly eight minutes on special teams. He now has nine goals and 38 points this season.

Matt Carle logged 18:06 of ice time in his return to the lineup on Saturday against Winnipeg.

It was his first game since Jan. 15 because of an abdominal injury. Carle picked up an assist and a plus-1 rating in Tampa Bay's 2-1 loss. He left practice after 20 minutes on Sunday, but that was part of the plan to not overwork him.

Whatever is bugging Coburn, it's not related to the foot he already broke twice this season. He will miss the next four-to-six weeks though, which means that we shouldn't expect him to be back before the playoffs. He has a goal and 11 points in 43 games this season.

Mark Barberio will be back in the Tampa Bay lineup Monday night against Montreal.

With Andrej Sustr out due to an upper body injury, Barberio will be inserted on to the blue line for the Lightning Monday night. Barberio sat out Tampa Bay’s last game and has scored a goal and six assists in 46 games overall this season. He will pair up with Matt Carle Monday to form the third defensive pair.

Luke Witkowski is expected to be in the Tampa Bay lineup Monday night versus Montreal.

Witkowski was paired with Victor Hedman during the morning skates and is likely to dress with him for Monday's game. The 24-year-old defenseman has not appeared in an NHL game since February 16 in Los Angeles and has yet to record a point in 10 games with the Lightning this season.

He carries a salary cap hit of $3.607 million and is signed for the next three seasons, but there has been plenty of talk that his career might be over. Ohlund, who had surgery on both of his knees, hasn't played since May 27, 2011.

It was a full night for Bishop to say the least. Bishop now has four penalty minutes to his credit, along with four assists on the season. It wasn't a great showing otherwise, though. Bishop allowed a soft short-handed goal and stopped just 16 shots at even strength. But a win is a win. His record improves to 37-13-4 with a .913 save percentage and a 2.37 GAA.

Vasilevskiy probably wants the goal he allowed to Jonathan Huberdeau back, but otherwise he was solid all night long. Vasilevskiy made 33 saves in the effort, including five on the penalty kill. His record improves to 7-4-1 with 31 goals against in 14 games this season.